Port on for finals, no choke

Port Adelaide have won three more games than any team this season. They have a powerful attack and fast, skilful midfield. Their home ground advantage is among the most pronounced in the AFL. So why aren't the Power clear-cut favourites to win the premiership?

The reason is as much mental as anything.

Much as the Swans will do on Sunday, last season Collingwood travelled to AAMI Stadium to play a qualifying final against Port, one which no one thought they'd win.

However, before that match, the Power had lost all three of their previous AFL finals - a point emphasised in the lead-up by Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse, who opined that if Port lost again their mental toughness must be questioned.

Malthouse made the Power and their stress-carrying coach Mark Williams think about what they had done so far and what was at stake. Subsequently, in a single calamitous night, Port's season's work was brought undone by a Collingwood team that was without injured captain Nathan Buckley. Power choked.

That, at least, is how the story of Port's unexpected capitulation has come to be told. Their captain Matthew Primus put a different spin on it.

"I don't think what was said put any more pressure on us," said Primus, who will miss Sunday's match because of a knee injury. "We knew how much pressure was around. If we won, people would have said we stood up to it well. We lost and people said it was the pressure. You just don't really know what effect it has."

And the intense Williams's reaction to the Malthouse barbs? "It's just a load of crap to say he acted any differently," Primus said. "The lead-up to that game was no different to any other. It's just the players didn't get the job done."

Yet until they prove otherwise, Port's collapse against Collingwood and a 1-6 finals record will make their otherwise powerful team seem fragile. Even exploitable.

But, as tempting as it might seem, it is not a button Swans coach Paul Roos has been willing to push. While young Fremantle coach Chris Connolly was this week engaging in a pre-game war of words with Essendon maestro Kevin Sheedy, Roos rejected invitations to play mind games.

"A lot of that sort of stuff gets blown up," Roos said. "But at the end of the day you have to wonder if it makes any difference. Did the Port Adelaide players go out there last year with Mick's [Malthouse's] words ringing in their ears? From my own experience playing finals, I'd doubt it."

While Roos might not find value in attempting to unsettle the Port players, surely Collingwood's unlikely victory must provide positive reinforcement for his team of underdogs. Without injured stars Jason Ball, Jason Saddington, Michael O'Loughlin and Daryn Cresswell, the Swans will start clearly the longest priced of any of this week's finalists. But the Magpies have proven those odds can be overcome.

"I'm not sure if I talk [to the players] about that or not," said Roos. "Our way has been to concentrate pretty much on what we need to do as a team. Whether Port has a 6-1 record in finals or a 1-6 record, we still need to concentrate on the things we have to do to beat them in this game."

The flip side to Port's poor finals record - and the "chokers" tag they now wear - is that they will be more determined than ever not to botch the chance to advance to a home preliminary final. The common belief is if Port are at their best, it will be a blow-out.

"You'd hope it would have that effect," Primus said. "As a team I think we've improved a lot and as individuals you would think we would realise that finals don't come around all the time. You only get a few chances and you have to take them."

Primus cited the progress of players such as Shaun Burgoyne, Toby Thurstans and Josh Carr and a more even performance all-around as the reason for Port's improvement this year. It has allowed them to overcome the loss of star midfielder Josh Francou and Primus himself. "I don't think we rely on a handful of outstanding players now," he said.

Then there is the addition of former Kangaroos premiership player Byron Pickett, a human cannonball who not only relishes body-on-body contact but is also one of the most dynamic finishers in the game.

Perhaps his experience will help erase any doubts that lurk in the back of the Port players' minds - not that Primus accepts they exist. "I don't think that's a problem," he said. "If it happened every five weeks or something, maybe it would be. But the finals only come around once a year. You get into that position then you hope to take your chances."